Best of Arlington 2014

Food & Drink

Best Restaurant (TIE)

Liberty Tavern

Like so many of our area’s top toques, The Liberty Tavern’s executive chef LiamLaCivita believes that quality cooking starts with quality ingredients. He buys from local farms and oversees a team that makes pasta, bread, sausages and desserts (including ice cream) in-house. This attention to detail has kept Liberty consistently buzzing with happy diners since its opening in spring 2007. “We continue to work on sourcing. That’s the cost of entry for a serious restaurant,” says co-owner StephenFedorchak, who, with his brother Mark and fellow partner BrianNormile, also owns Lyon Hall and Northside Social.

Housed in a former Masonic lodge overlooking one end of Clarendon Central Park, the restaurant has a casual, unfussy atmosphere, with dark wood décor. Notable guests include President BarackObama, who dined here with campaign supporters in the fall of 2011. Although best-known for his rustic, Italian-influenced cooking, LaCivita has recently dotted the menu with a few Southern-inspired dishes, including peanut soup, pork with fried green tomatoes, and scallops paired with cornmeal johnnycakes.